


The Garbage Can of Hopes and Dreams

by charmingStrangeness



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, rating will not change tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-17 22:52:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16105451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charmingStrangeness/pseuds/charmingStrangeness
Summary: In which art major Ryuugazaki Rei runs an art installation as his term project where people can anonymously submit their failed goals, and gets strangely attached to one mysterious serial submitter.(Also he gets saddled with a shitty group for his psych elective's group paper, but he'd prefer not think about that if he can help it. That hooligan Hazuki Nagisa who doesn't take anything remotely seriously is already bad enough in person, so he really shouldn't be occupying more space in Rei's mind than strictly necessary.)





	The Garbage Can of Hopes and Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this idea for over two years. Shoutout to the Free! anime staff for making a third season and giving me the inspiration to actually come back and finish this old-ass project.
> 
> Special thanks go to [Einzel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Einzel) and [GibbousLunation](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GibbousLunation) – you may or may not remember but both of you had discussed this idea with me way back then and helped it go from "hey wouldn't this be a fun AU" to a story with some actual substance.
> 
> Inspired by [this post](http://obviousplant.com/post/144603923388/i-made-a-trashcan-for-peoples-hopes-and-dreams)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> before anyone calls me out on using such a gintama-style title, i'd already had this chapter mostly written and titled two years ago before i even watched gintama, so there.

Ryuugazaki Rei stared down into the garbage can, and half a burger stared back up at him.

“Anything good today?” The voice behind him was laced with boredom – or would have been to a casual observer, at least; it had only taken two years of rooming with him, but Rei had finally started untangling the subtleties of Nanase Haruka’s tones and mannerisms. He wasn’t exactly an expert, but at the very least he could tell the difference between ‘bored’ and ‘highly interested but maintaining a facade of boredom’, and this case was almost definitely the latter.

“It’s just more garbage,” Rei grumbled. “Don’t people have better things to do than casually sabotage my work?”

“Don’t go calling peoples’ hopes and dreams garbage, Rei. That’s a little rude, don’t you think?”

“It’s definitely just garbage, Haruka-senpai. They saw a trash can, and left trash in it.” Rei sighed, and the soft squeak of sneakers on linoleum from behind him indicated Haru’s approach to examine the trash can in question. Of course, technically speaking, said garbage can was an art installation – Rei’s term project, ‘The Garbage Can of Hopes and Dreams’. Only it was turning out to deserve a name more along the lines of ‘The Garbage Can of Real Actual Garbage, Same as Any Other Garbage Can on Campus’.

“Maybe I should make the title sign bigger?” Rei muttered under is breath, and beside him, Haru peered down into the receptable. “I should have anticipated that no one would actually read it…”

“Rei, there’s stuff in there,” Haru said.

“Yes, I told you already. Trash.”

Haru frowned. “You mean hopes and dreams, Rei.”

“I do not.”

“What if they threw that burger in there because they wanted a great burger, but then it didn’t live up to what they were hoping for?”

“Haruka-senpai… with all due respect, I think someone was just careless here.”

“Yes,” Haru’s eyes sparkled, “it was the burger place.”

Rei bit back a groan. “Be serious for a minute, will you?”

“I _am_ being serious. Maybe you need to take your submissions more seriously.”

 _Dead serious, or deadpan sarcasm?_ It was still impossible to tell, even with those two years of experience living together. Rei sighed heavily and adjusted his glasses. “Fine, fine, you might be right… I’m just tired of picking through so much rejected food when I haven’t even received anything I can interpret properly.”

Haru shrugged. “So leave instructions.”

“But I want it to leave it open to interpretation.”

“So don’t leave instructions.”

“But they’re not doing it right—”

“Art doesn’t need to be perfect, Rei,” Haru cut him off. “Remember?” There was warning tone in his voice – that much was unmistakable.

“Haruka-senpai…” A soft smile tugged at Rei’s lips. “There’s no need to worry, I promise. I just want to find the right balance here. It defeats the purpose if I dictate what people can or cannot submit, but it also defeats the purpose if no one recognizes a participatory art installation for what it is.”

“So just start checking it daily instead of once a week,” Haru suggested. “It won’t stop people from leaving garbage, but at the very least you’ll have less of it to sift through each time.”

Rei nodded slowly. “That should work for now, I guess?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a garbage bag.

“Wait a second.” Haru quickly pulled out his cell phone and snapped a picture of the burger. Rei raised an eyebrow, but Haru only shrugged. “I’ll save it for when you figure out I’m right.”

Rei sighed. “Alright, alright, send it to me and I’ll make sure it’s the centerpiece on the final collage. Now can I finish playing trash collector here?”

“I wonder if you could use this as work experience on your resumé. In case you have trouble getting a job after you graduate.”

A sly grin appeared on Rei’s lips. “At least I’m getting some kind of work experience at all. Unlike _certain people_ we know.” He concluded his statement with a _very_ pointed look in Haru’s direction.

“Who do you mean, Rin?” Haru asked innocently, and Rei erupted into laughter. Beside him, Haru turned his head, but Rei still caught the telltale movement of his shoulders.

A little ways down the hall, someone leaned against the wall and pulled out a phone. A pair of dull eyes watched them walk away laughing, caught up in their banter. Neither had noticed the visitor.

Minutes later, the hall was empty, and the garbage can contained a single scrap of paper.

 

* * *

 

“It won’t be that bad, Rin.”

“Yes, it _will_ ,” Rin practically growled, angrily tapping his pen on the table in front of him. “Group projects are the _worst_. People always slack off and try to get a free ride to good grades from the one person who steps up to do anything. That or their best efforts aren’t good enough to begin with so you still get stuck re-doing their sections. Plus, it’s not just any project, it’s a paper! At least with a presentation you can each just present your part but a paper needs to sound cohesive, and that’s tough to do with more than one person working on it!”

Rei shook his head. “Clearly _somebody_ has had one too many bad experiences with group work.”

“What, you’re saying you’ve never run into that kind of problem? You, Ryuugazaki Rei the perfectionist?”

“Truth be told, I haven’t done a group project in ages.” Rei shrugged. “This is university, surely most people have grown out of slacking off by now?” He reached under the table for his backpack. “Speaking of which, we should be getting to class now.”

Rin sighed and snapped the large textbook laying in front of him shut. “With any luck, we’ll end up in the same group. I don’t think I’d mind working on a paper with you too much.”

Rei raised an eyebrow. “How very kind of you,” he deadpanned.

Truthfully, though, Rei was also hoping he’d get to work with Rin. He’d certainly had his doubts about taking an introductory psych course the previous semester just because Haru’s best friend’s roommate was also taking the course – registering in a class to meet a friend of a friend of a friend? Who even does that? – but Matsuoka Rin had proven to be both easy to get along with _and_ a worthwhile study partner. After acing the course with each other’s help, there was no question that both would take the follow-up course this semester. And if they got to work together on a group paper, Rei knew for certain they’d ace this course as well, which would be a lot of stress off his back and leave him the energy to focus on his core art courses…

They arrived at the lecture hall with plenty of time to spare. Their usual seats at the end of the third row were empty, and Rei quickened his pace out of habit in order to snag them before anyone else could.

Rei was already unpacking his notes when Rin caught up.

“The third row isn’t exactly prime real estate, you know,” Rin chuckled as he sat down.

“You can pretend you don’t care where you sit all you want but I _know_ it bothers you when we get forced—”

Something heavy smacked into the back of Rei’s head, sending his glasses clattering to the floor.

“Whoops, sorry about that!”

Rei fumbled for his glasses, then twisted around in his seat. In the row behind him, a student with shaggy blond hair and an overstuffed bookbag slung over his shoulder was scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “Your glasses didn’t break, did they?”

“No, they’re fine.” Rei gave a tight-lipped smile. “Don’t worry about it.”

The student grinned. “Oh good!” He took a couple steps and plopped into a seat that wasn’t quite directly behind Rei, but may as well have been. Someone across the room seemed to catch his eye, and he waved.

Rin snickered. Rei lightly smacked his friend’s arm. “Don’t laugh.”

At the front of the hall, the professor cleared his throat and began to speak. Rin turned his attention to the front of the room with feigned innocence, and Rei rolled his eyes.

“As I had mentioned last class, today I will be announcing your term paper groups. When I call out your names, you will come to the front to get a copy of the paper guidelines. Once you have your guidelines, you have rest of the class today to work together…” Anticipation squeezed at Rei’s heart. Of course working with Rin would be the ideal, but for the most part Rei just wanted to _know_. Beside him, Rin was clenching his hands together in his lap as if he were praying to the Gods of Academia for good group members.

Later, Rei would look back and consider the possibility that by hoping so hard to work with each other, they’d karmically destroyed their chances at actually being in the same group. Murphy’s law and all that. It was understandable.

What was not understandable, however, is why fate had chosen to place him in the same group as Hazuki Nagisa, the blond bookbag-wielding idiot from earlier.

“Hilarious that we ended up in the same group, eh? It must be destiny!” Hazuki winked at Rei as they walked away from the professor. Rei’s grip on the assignment guidelines tightened.

Their third groupmate – Nitori Aiichirou, the professor had called him – glanced at the two of them in surprise. “Ah… Do you two already know each other?”

Rei opened his mouth to answer that no, they did not, but Hazuki beat him to the punch.

“We met in class today when I accidentally smacked Rei-chan’s head with my bag,” Hazuki laughed.

Rei felt his eye twitch at the sound of the -chan tacked on to the end of his first name. He shot a small glare in Hazuki’s direction. “So the answer to your question, Nitori, is no, Hazuki and I are not acquainted.”

Hazuki’s innocent smile morphed into a pout. “No need for all the formality, Rei-chan. You can use my first name if you want to.”

 _And what if I don’t want to use your first name?_ “That’s okay, it’s fine. Anyways, we should find a seat and start putting together a work schedule, seeing as this is the last in-class session we’ll be getting to work on this.”

“Ooh, there are some super comfy couches just down the hall, we should work there!” Hazuki’s eyes sparkled.

Rei felt his blood pressure begin to rise. “We don’t need to stay in the lecture hall, of course, but perhaps we should find an actual table to work at? I know a good study sp—”

“What do you think, Ai-chan? Where should we work?”

Nitori started. “Oh! Uh, it doesn’t really matter to me too much?” He laughed nervously. “A table is probably better to get more work done, but the couch certainly seems tempting…”

Hazuki flung his hands into the air in celebration. “All right, couch it is!”

Rei bit back a groan. _Rin was right – group projects are hell._

This was going to be a long semester…

 

* * *

 

Rei eyed the garbage can with suspicion.

“Just check already,” Haru called from behind him. “Waiting isn’t gonna change what is or isn’t there.”

Rei sighed. Haru was right, of course. But after the day he’d had…

The rest of the psych group meeting had gone exactly as well as one would expect it to have gone – Hazuki had continued to needlessly add ‘-chan’ to the end of everyone’s name and act overly ridiculous, bordering on inappropriately flirtatious, and after all was said and done their group had succeeded in accomplishing nothing more than planning to meet again the following Monday in the faculty of business atrium. To top it all off, Hazuki’s nonstop chatter had resulted in them losing track of time, making Rei late for his next class.

All that trouble just because he’d hoped a little too hard that he and Rin would get to work together – of course he wasn’t going to make the same mistake here and hope for a submission any better than another hamburger, or someone’s rotten lunch.

Of course, as they had determined yesterday, avoiding checking the garbage can would _definitely_ lead to more trash to sift through, so Rei steeled himself, stepped forward, and peered inside.

“Oh… It’s empty.”

 _Well, that was anti-climactic,_ Rei thought. Although better than something gross, at least.

Haru shuffled to his side and leaned over.

“Rei… There’s actually something in here.”

“Wait, what??”

Haru reached in and pulled out a small scrap of paper that Rei hadn’t noticed at first glance – it had been folded over itself into a messy little cube. He passed it to Rei, and Rei unfolded it carefully. It was half a lined page torn from a spiral-bound notebook.

“When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut,” Rei read aloud.

The handwriting was too uneven to be called neat, but too legible to be called messy, and the writer had doodled some stars and planets under their message, along with a little penguin wearing a space helmet.

Rei looked up, and his eyes met Haru’s. There was no mistaking the look of surprise on his roommate’s face, and Rei was positive that he was wearing a matching expression.

_Could it really be…?_

A small, warm smile played across Haru’s lips. “Congratulations on your first submission, Rei.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First, credit for Haru's hamburger joke ("i think someone was just being careless here"/"yes... it was the burger place") goes to Einzel, from one of our conversations about this AU two years back <3
> 
> Second, regarding honorifics: Nagisa's -chan's are iconic but Rei giving everyone proper honorifics is exhausting and distracting to write for me, tbqh. I'm so sorry. Haru is his art major senpai so he gets to stay as Haruka-senpai but for everyone else just. Assume there's a -kun or a -san tacked on at the end. If I change my mind about this I'll go back and edit it in where necessary but for the time being I'm just gonna skip those...
> 
> Third, regarding updates: I'm ignoring my better judgement yet again and posting this chapter even though I haven't finished a full first draft of the fic yet, because I'm an idiot who never learns. That being said, I really want to be done writing this by December so I can focus on other projects, so like....... Idk man. We'll see how it goes. 
> 
> ANYWAYS if you've got any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them so don't be afraid to leave a comment below <3 I can also be reached on tumblr @ [charmingstrangeness](http://charmingstrangeness.tumblr.com/) or on twitter [@madameforeman](https://twitter.com/madameforeman)


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